Last year I had an adventure.

The first time I realized something was happening was when my stepson Alexander visited me with his girlfriend, Nancy. Apparently they were helping to set up a Rainbow Gathering not far away from where I live. A little later I received rumours of several 'alternatives' wondering around the village. The next thing my daughter, Jacqueline visited with her children and told me that they were now living at the encampment and would really like me to come and see them there.

Just recently my mobility hasn't been very good and I have found it impossible to get into the vehicle at the passenger door. The next morning I was bemoaning the fact that I wouldn't be able to go to the Gathering when one of my carers, Claire, said that the company she worked for, Barchester, had a van, which they used for taking disabled people out and that sometimes she would drive it. All I had to do was book it and she would drive me there.

This I did and so it was on the day arranged she came round. Three of us would go Claire, Renee and myself. We studied the directions given to us on the web site and set off. The road we took was narrow and as we continued on our way it got steadily narrower so that if we had met a car coming in the opposite direction we would have found it very difficult to get past. The next thing the road turned into a dirt track and we began to wonder if we were going in the right direction. We spotted somebody with long hair walking towards us and asked, "Is this the way to the Gathering?" He replied to our question with an American accent in the affirmative.

Now we traveled on more hopefully but were soon worried again when we had to open a gate if we wished to continue. A little later we had to open another and the track became very similar to a motorcross course. I was thankful to be securely tied into the wheelchair as we started to get buffeted around by the contours of the road. Claire behaved above and beyond the call of duty but in the end even she had to admit defeat.

I left the vehicle and attempted to get further in my Power chair and we then came across a little encampment that was populated by a group of 'alternatives'. A lot were of a similar age to me, 56 years old, and some of the blokes looked as if they had been growing their hair since the 1960s!

The encampment consisted of several tents with a tepee in the middle. We asked if they knew where Jacqueline and the children were. We were told they were probably in the children's area a couple of fields away. The ground was too uneven and there was no way I could drive the Power chair any further so they said, "We will get some volunteers and carry you." Apparently the previous week there had been a girl in a wheelchair and she had been in a much worse state than I. "She could only move her eyes and we managed to get her there. She stayed for two nights as well." After hearing that I thought I would have to go on. After coming so far I wasn't going to give in with a few hundred yards to go!

So I was busy psyching myself up when an Italian girl who had remained quiet in the background while the boys decided what to do said, "Why don't we bring Jacqueline and the children over to you instead of carrying you to Jacqueline?" What a good idea. If Mohammed can't get to the mountain why not bring the mountain to Mohammed?

Jacqueline and the children arrived with their faces painted. They gave me a hug and a love because I had managed to make it. They sat on the floor around me and we talked of our adventures. The weather up until this point had been nice but suddenly rain started to fall and my power chair burst into action. I headed through the door of the tepee forgetting that I had my hat on and I almost knocked it off as well as my head! I was distracted by what was going on in the head department and I almost drove into the fire in the middle of the tepee. Luckily I stopped just in time but at least I was now somewhere dry.

There were a lot of us sheltering and one of our number, a Taiwanese girl brought out some fruit and nuts, placed them in a bowl and passed them round. When they were eaten Renee got out a bag of mixed nuts and placed them in the bowl and it was passed round again. When they had all gone to girl placed something that she called Energy Balls in the bowl and the procedure was repeated. There is something very basic about sharing food and I just felt happy about being involved in this circle.

The girl with the Energy Balls then passed around some leaflets explaining what the Rainbow Gathering was all about.

"We are all facets of the same Consciousness. We gather to heal ourselves. We gather to share and we gather to care. To open our Hearts and rekindled the flame of the highest Good, LOVE."

When the world is in such a mess it was just beautiful to be amongst such beautiful people.

When I first started to write for New Pathways magazine I described myself as an unreformed ageing hippie. The first story I wrote was called the BOOK and in this story I did mention about a book by Alan Watts in which he says we are all One. We are all God and what we do is spend our time playing hide and seek with each other. I truly believe this and that is why I mentioned about it in the story. I know that it has been a comfort to me as my body has deteriorated. The people at this Gathering not only believe this but they also live it. I have believed it but up until now have felt fragmented because you have to know others who think the same way. I feel that I have now connected with the tribe.

All too soon it was time to go home but this isn't the end of the story next week I am going to go and stay a few days at the camp. We have bought a couple of sleeping bags and Claire has lent us a tent. There will be thousands of people to care for me and they will carry me over the last few fields to the center of the camp. I think I fancy being carried feet first!

When I had gone to the Rainbow Gathering I had been so impressed by the caring sharing nature of those present that I decided that somehow I would spend at least one night at the encampment. So for next week I arranged for Claire to drive me to there again.

I thought it would be better if I brought the manual wheelchair because if I wanted to go on to the main camp it would be possible to carry me and the wheelchair places I couldn't reach in the power chair.

When we arrived we were greeted like long lost friends and Renee started to put up the tent. She was helped in this venture by somebody who knew about tents and this job was done inside 15 minutes. While this was happening I was left close to the tepee where I socialized.

You aren't supposed to bring any electrical equipment but that doesn't prevent people making acoustic music, there were plenty of musicians about and they gave us a wonderful free concert. We were then treated to something called Capoeira. An instrument that looks very much like a bow from a bow and arrow is played with the bow string being hit rhythmically, and while this is going on people dance in the middle. It is a strange dance and is really a form of martial art. The dancers get into pairs and then they do various gymnastic feats in an attempt to make the other person over balance without touching them. They use feints, sweeps, kicks and all kinds of subterfuge. They even sometimes stand on their head or hands in an attempt to surprise the other. Everybody had great fun and I found it very entertaining.

Then there was the cry "Food Circle". Everybody joined hands and formed a circle. I was pushed in my wheelchair so that I was part of the Circle and they sang a song;

"We are circling circling together.
We are singing singing our heart song.
This is family.
This is unity.
This is celebration.
This is Sacred."

In the middle were two big cooking pots and we all filled our bowls with food. When we had eaten some of the Gathering started to dance around the Circle carrying the Magic Hat and there was a collection. Anybody who couldn't afford it didn't have to pay. I'm like Her Majesty the Queen I don't have any pockets so I couldn't put any money in! Don't worry by this time Renee had come back and put some in for me! After that there was more music and a good time was had by all.

When it started to go dark I thought it best to find out my sleeping arrangements. I am not very mobile and have to be hoisted out of bed every morning. Now I would have to somehow make my way to my tent and then get into a sleeping bag. I let it be known that I wished to go to bed and right away two people came to my assistance. It would be difficult for me to be transported to the tent across the uneven ground. When I mentioned this one of the two, Colin told me, "I'm a market gardener and I'm used to carting around bags of spuds so this will be easy." He then proceeded to push my wheelchair 'wheelie fashion' to the tent, what a trip!

We got there really quickly, but now how was I to get into the tent and then the sleeping bag? Colin was unfazed and told me, "This man," referring to the Israeli man with him, "He climbs pine trees and tells me you have to be really strong to do that so there should be no problem." It was very awkward to get me into the tent from the wheelchair. The sleeping bag was pointing with the feet towards the entrance so they things to me up carried me limbo fashion into the tent head first.

They were very gentle with me. They handled me as they would a baby. The Israeli guy carried me backwards and I finished up falling on top of him. We had been laughing before but after that we just dissolved into fits of laughter! When I am away from home I use a Convene and it was impractical to have a night bag in the sleeping bag so I continued to use the Day bag. I just managed to last until the morning without having the bag emptied. I slept on an air bed and had one of the best night's sleep I've had in long time.

At about nine o'clock the next morning I decided it was time to leave the tent. Renee worried whether I would be able to get out or not but she needn't have. As soon as she left the tent to look for help she met another Israeli guy we had met the night before and when informed of the problem he sprang into action. Somebody from Germany happened to be passing and he was summoned. They devised a wonderful plan for getting me out of the tent. They pulled the air bed out with me on it. So within two minutes of me thinking that I?d like to get up I was sat in my wheelchair outside the tent!

Renee had things to do so she left me in the group. Everybody was really pleased to see somebody in a wheelchair at the Gathering. One guy, I think he was French asked me if it would be all right to take my photograph. "I have a friend with MS and he has never been to a Rainbow Gathering. He would really like to but he feels scared. If I show him a photograph of you he will realize that it is possible."

There are no leaders but there are some who obviously have been to several Rainbow Gatherings. I told them I was sure that many disabled people would love to experience what I have experienced and asked if it would be possible to make the Gatherings more disabled friendly. 'Sh*t Pits', as they are called, are definitely unfriendly to disabled people! There would have to be some sort of disabled toilets to help to make things a little easier.

In the spectrum of disability I think that I am closer to the very disabled than most and I coped so it is possible. The food they provide definitely helps to keep you 'regular' though, and by the end of the second day I had to go!

Peace and Love Everybody.

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I haven't figured out how to put photographs with the story so all the photographs to do this story in amongst my photographs.